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WASHINGTON 
A MASON 



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ADDRESS DELIVERED BY BROTHER JOHN CAVEN. 
ITS FIRST WORSHIPFUL MASTER. BEFORE 
MYSTIC TIE LODGE No. 398, F. & A. M.. 
INDIANAPOLIS, IND.. DECEMBER 14, 1899, BEING 
THE CENTENNIAL OF THE DEATH OF WASHINGTON 



WASHINGTON: A MASON 



ADDRESS DELIVERED BY- 
BROTHER JOHN CAVEN 

ITS FIRST WORSHIPFUL MASTER 

BEFORE MYSTIC TIE LODGE No. 398. F. & A. M.. INDIANAPOLIS, 

IND.. DECEMBER 14. 1899, BEING THE CENTENNIAL 

OF THE DEATH OF WASHINGTON 



INDIANAPOLIS 

PRESS OF WM. B. BURFORD 
1900 






IN fiXCHANOfl 

?5 0'05 



WASHINGTON: A MASON. 



Washington was a Mason. And it is fortnnate he was; 
for npon this fact depended important consequences; the 
success of the American Revolution, the union of the States 
and the formation of our government. He became a Mason 
in his twenty-first vear, and thus early, imbued mth Ma- 
sonic principles- — -which had much to do in fonning his 
character and making him that which he became, the 
Father of His ( ountrv, the founder of n nation and the 
Colossus of all time. 

One hundred years ago to-day he died, and upon this day 
Masons held memorial services at his tomb; and one hun- 
dred years hence, on the return of this day, Masons now 
unborn will gathei' again at that shrine and render homage: 
and thus every century whilst the centuries come and go. 
Washington at first belonged to America, and his name 
and fame to the American people. He now belongs to the 
world, and his name and fame are in the keeping of all 
mankind. 

Washington and Masonry— a grand combination. Wash- 
ington belonged to the world, and Masonry is a world insti- 
tution. It had much to do in making history, and its influ- 
ence on other Avorld-institutions, progress, civilization, lib- 
erty and religion was gi-eat. 

Masonry, it is claimed, is an ancient institution, and so 
indeed it is; one of the oldest in the world, and in its origin 

. (3) 



was a religion. A religion collected and combined from 
the great natural religions of antiquity. A religion in which 
our ancient brethren were seeking for truth a.;? best they 
might, and from and all, and the only light they had — the 
light of nature. And these tiiiths when found, as they be- 
lieved, they formulated into a system of i-ules for their 
government here, and a declaration of faith, hope and be- 
lief in a life to come. And hence this ancient religion was 
an attempt to define man's relation and duty to some power 
above him, his felloMTuan and himself here and hereafter. 
Before the light of Revelation, the most earnest seeker for 
truth could only, and but slowly and dimly, learn from ob- 
servation and experience, from the material world around 
him, in which all seemed to end at the grave, and there was 
but a skeleton, and even that skeleton mouldered to dust; 
and if beyond the grave there was aught but nothingiiess, it 
was a realm so dark that mortal eye could not pierce it? 
gloom. And though looking up into heaven from whence 
all light seemed to come, to the questioning spirit from the 
stars by night or the sun by day, came no answer, no answer 
to hope. Above, about, around, beyond, all and everj'^where 
seemed buoyant and teeming ^vith life, but all seemed only 
born that it might die. The eagle on broad, strong, brave 
wing rose up — up — up — to an eyrie in the skies till lost 
beyond the clouds, but soon with folded, palsied pinions 
fell again to earth. Lifeless the sweep of that once mighty 
wing; blinded that bold eye that gazed defiance at the sun; 
and that once proud messenger bird of Jove himself 
brought indeed a message from tlie empyrean to earth ; but 
that message was the same, still the same as the epitaphs 
written bv man for ages on the tombs of his fathers; and 



that message was death ! death ! death ! But the wonderful 
manifestations of even inanimate nature led the wise and 
thoughtful to a belief, that there must be some higher, and 
that, too, an intelligent power above and beyond, and out of 
this was evolved the conception of a god, a creator and 
ruler over all. And to this Creator they attributed omnipo- 
tence and omniscience, but invested with the nature, mo- 
tives and passions of their own humanity, so that the gods 
of the ancients were but mighty men; men with the powers 
and attributes of gods, and gods with the weaknesses and 
passions of men. 

But this observation and experience had taught them, 
too, that this human body is but dust and must die; but 
there was something stirring and speaking from within 
wliich longed to live and felt it could not die; and out of 
this longing sprang a hope, and out of that hope a belief, 
that the spirit of man would live, and live forever, and 
thence came dreams of an eternal spirit home, and faith 
and hope looking through the portals of the tomb, beheld 
far away and beyond apocalyptic visions of a celestial city, 
its gates of pearl, its streets of gold and jasper walls, and 
the glory of God did lighten it, and the name of that cele-?- 
till] city was Heaven, Paradise, Elysium. 

But this ol)servation and experience had taught^ them, 
too, there were widely vaiying conditions around them, and 
ill the lives and conduct of men, conditions which they 
called right and wrong, good and evil, of pleasure and pain. 
to be desired or avoided, and human actions Avhich some 
intuitive sense told tliem were worthy of regard or deserv- 
ing of punishment; but realizing how imperfectly justice 
\\aR administered here, they taught there was a fate which 



6 

would follow each one into that spirit world, where reward 
and pimishnient would he meted out by an infinite and un- 
erring judge ; and thus in the human imagination took form 
the conception of two spirit w^orlds; one of light and happi- 
ness and reward for the good, and one of darkness, doom 
and punishment for the mcked; and tliese spirit worlds they 
called Elysium and Tartarus, Paradise and Gehenna, 
Heaven and Hell; and thus from nature's light alone was 
ev^olved a creed of natural religion, sublime too in its teach- 
ings, for it taught the existence of one God, the immortality 
of the soul and a future of rewards and punishments. It 
taught, too, the great Fatherhood of God, and was the iii'st 
to teach the universal brotherhod of man. It taught, too, 
there is an all-seeing eye continually searching every 
human heart, and a recording angel recording every wicked 
thought and deed for the day of judgment. A sublime 
creed indeed, from nature's light alone; a creed bom of a 
search for truth, out of an attempt to build an altar for the 
worship of the Good; a creed fitting man 1>etter to live, 
though death ended all, and better to die, though dying he 
should live again; a creed accepted almost unchanged by 
the most advanced religious and philosophic thought of 
to-day. 

Masonry has been charged with a mission; a grand mis- 
sion; a mission of love and mercy, liberty and peace; on 
earth peace, good will toward men. Many great organiza- 
tions have Avaged wars of ambition and conquest, for power 
and spoil; and many great and bloody wars have been 
waged even in the name of religion. Masonry battles only 
for right, truth, justice and libert}', and ever sends in ad- 



vance the white lambskin banner of truce proclaiming tol- 
eration and peace. 

Washington was a soldier. A soldier's business is to kill 
and destroy; but Washington drank inspiration from Ma- 
sonry, and fought only for freedom, only for the rights of 
man ; and Masonry has ever been the world's great evangel 
of liberty. 

JSTot only Masonry, but Free, Free Masonry its name. 
That word free is a grand word ; there is music in the sound. 
It tells of limbs unshackled, thoughts unfettered; and that 
name Free JMasonry is a grand title to a grand order, de- 
rived from, and commemorative of, two great epochs in the 
world's history of freedom. Free, Free Masonry its name; 
its very name derived from freedom's own baptismal font. 

Masonic historians declare that the origin and meaning 
of the word Mason is exceedingly obscure, but it can be 
traced through the ancient natural religions, at once prov- 
ing both its origin and its great antiquity. 

]\lason is from a Hebrew word found in the Bible ; but as 
spoken by us, slightly changed in the pronunciation. After 
the Children of Israel escaped from the land of bondage, 
they wandered forty years in the wilderness. And the 
Lord said unto Moses : Let them make me a sanctuary, that 
I may dwell among them, according to all that I show thee, 
after the pattern of the Mascan or Mishsan, a word trans- 
lated to mean tabernacle. And this pattern God gave to 
Moses on the mount, together with the tables of stone; and 
the tabernacle was made of boards set upright and separated 
by a veil into two sanctuaries. The outer was called the 
Holy Place, or the Sanctuary; and the inner was by God 
Himself called the Mascan or Mishsan, the Holy of Holies, 



8 

or tlie Sanctuary of Sanctuaries; and into it no one was per- 
mitted to enter except the High Priest, and he but once a 
year; and in it was kept the Ark of the Covenant, the Ta- 
bles of Stone, the Holy Cherubim and the Mercy Seat. It 
was set upright and anointed with holy oil; and the first 
syllable of the word is the same as the Mas in Massiah, 
which means to anoint, or the Anointed, and the last syl- 
lable of the word means to erect or set up, so that Mason 
applied to an individual means one pure and upright in 
character; and applied in architecture means a tabernacle, 
set upright, anointed with holy oil and dedicated to sacred 
uses; and after the building of King- Solomon's Temple it 
is the word always, and especially used to mean the habita- 
tion or the dwelling of the Most High ; and every Masonic 
temple and every Mason's heart should be true to that 
name— a temple dedicated to liberty, a tabernacle, a habita- 
tion, a dwelling, a Holy of Holies, a Sanctuary of Sanctu- 
aries for the Most High. 

While in the wilderness the Mascan was where al)ode 
the pillars of cloud and fire when at rest; and from thence 
went out to their wondrous stations in the sky to lead the 
Children on in their journey towards the Promised Land. 

In the Hebrew language, the last syllable also means a 
nest, the nest of a bird; and especially the nest of an eagle — 
the lofty habitation of the greatest and most jwwei'ful of 
the birds, built among the rocks or on the mountain 
heights: As an eagle stin-eth up her nest. And the Lord 
said unto Job, doth the eagle mount up at thy command, 
and build her nest on high? She dwelleth on the rock, upon 
the crag of the rock, in the strong place. Though tbon 
build thy nest high as the eagle, tlience ^vill I bring thee 



9 

down, saith the Lord. Though thou exalt thyself as the 
eagle, and bnild thy nest among the stars, thence udll I 
bring thee down, saith the Lord. 

Masonic historians trace Masonry through the religions 
of Egypt, India, Persia, Chaldea and Ethiopia; and in the 
Ethiopic language Mas, the firet syllable in Mason, is the 
word which means a man; and not merely a man generally, 
but a strong, healthy, and especially a virile or procreative 
man; and in the ideographic or picture writing of that lan- 
guage, a man is represented by the Phallus or Lingam, the 
male organs of generation; and slightly modified from the 
nude in art, is the same in Hebrew. It is also the s>nibol 
of the seventh sign of the Zodiac, the Libra, the balance, 
the reins, which the ancients who named it believed to be 
the hidden fountain, source of life- — the seat of the affec- 
tions and passions; and in the body, the central home of 
the mind, the intellect, the soul, the governor and controller 
of the human will. 

Ramesides was the title of a royal dynasty, and Rameses 
the names of fifteen of the Pharaohs or kings of Egypt, 
among them the Pharaoh of the Jewish bondage and exo- 
dus. The Egyptians worshipped the Sun, and they called 
it Ba : and Mas, a man; and so Pameses meant the snn or 
god-man, or one who was both god and man. 

One of the names of God in Hebrew is Jah — the great 
and terrible name by which he rideth upon the heavens; 
and in that language Messiah — or more accurately Mas jah, 
as the Sanskrit has it — also means a man of God, or one 
who is both god and man. 

The English language traces its philology through the 
Indo-European into the Aryan — the language of ancient 



10 

India, the cradle of the human race, and that language was 
divided intt) tAvo great idioms, one called Prakrit, the com- 
mon or natural language, and the other called Sanso-it, or 
the sacred language — the language of the priesthood, and 
in which the sacred books were Avritten. Ln the Prakrit, or 
common language, Manis is the word which means a man 
generally, and means one who thinks; and from it comes 
our word Man; vrhile in the Sanscrit, or sacred language, 
Mas is the word which also means a man, and from it conies 
our word ilf asculine; and this word Mas, as in the Ethiopic, 
means a strong, healthy, virile, procreative man, and San 
means sacred or holy; so that Masson means a perfect and 
holy man. 

Sansci'it is the name of the sacred language of India, 
and in that language Sa7i means sacred, and Skrit means 
writing; so that Sanscrit means sacred writing in the same 
sense in which we use the ^vords Sacred Scripture. Indeed 
our word Script comes from this Sanscrit Skrit, and from 
this Sanscrit word San comes onr words sane, sanity, sani- 
tary, saint, sanatorium, sanctuai'y, sanctum sanctorum, san- 
hedrin, meaning holiness and holy places, soundness of 
body, sanity of mind and sanctity of heart; and also the 
adjective prefix San in many Italian and Spanish names, 
meaning holy places and sainted persons, as, in English, 
Saint Peter's, Saint Paul's, and Saint John's. 

In the Ethiopic, the Sanscrit and the Araltie the wMord 
Mason means a sacred temple; and in the Hebrew, the pre- 
cise word Mason spelled in letters equivalent to our Macon 
means the habitation or dwelling of the Most High: And 
the Lord will create on every Macon ^dwelling place) on 
Mount Zion a cloud and a smoke bv day and the shining of 



11 

a flaming fire by night, ^^'^hen same of the chiefs of the 
fathers came to the house of the Lord, which is at Jeru- 
salem, they offered freely to the House of (iiod to set it up 
on His Macon (His dwelling place): Thou wilt bring them, 
O Lord, to the Macon place which Thou has made for Thee 
to dwell in: Hear Thou in Macon Thy dwelling place: 
Hear Thou their prayers and supplications in Macon, Thy 
dwelling place: From the Macon, the place of his habita- 
tion. He looketh upon all the inhabitants of the earth : And 
the Lord said unto me, I will take My rest and I will con- 
sider in My Macon, my dwelling place. 

In our language hero, giant, despot, tyrant, monarch, 
emperor, sultan, the anointed, are all and each but one 
word, and each meaning a man; but impliedly nmeh more 
than an individual man. And in those ancient languagCvS — 
the Ethiopic, the Sanscrit, the Arabic and the Hebrew — 
Mason is a comprehensive word, requiring many words in 
our language to fully express its meaning. Mas meant a 
strong, healthy, virile, procreative, anointe<l man; health, 
strength and virility being regarded as the great essential 
element of true manhood; and San meant perfect or holy. 
So that Mascon applied to an individual meant a strong, 
healthy, virile, procreative, anointed, perfect man. Only 
one word, and meaning a man, but not tlie common man of 
the common language, but the sacred man of the sacred 
language; impliedly emljracing in its meaning tlie highest 
possible conception and embodiment of the powers, attri- 
butes and perfections of a perfect physical, mental and 
moral, almost spiritual manhood; and in architecture meant 
a tabernacle set upright, anointed with holy oil and dedi- 
cated to sacred uses — a tabernacle, a habitation, a dwelling. 



12 

a holy of holies, a sanctiiaiy of sanctuaries for the Most 
High. 

This was the grand meaning of Mason in the sacred lan- 
guage of Ethiopia. This was the grand meaning of Mason 
in the Sanhitas, the sacred books of India; and this was 
the grand meaning of Mason in the Koran, the sacred book 
of the Mohammedan ; and this is the grand meaning of Ma- 
son in the Bible, the sacred book of the Christian world; 
and this should be its grand meaning to every man who 
bears the name of Mason to-day. 

In the Ethiopic and the Hebrew On is the name of the 
Sun; and this is also the word which in those languages 
means strength or power; but not merely ^dsible or apparent 
power, but the unseen, primal source from which all power 
comes. This power they called The On, and it is trans- 
lated into our language by such significant words as "first- 
born," "firstlings of strength;" impliedly embracing in its 
meaning the conception of the beginnings of strength, 
might, excellency, dignity and power. And Jacob lay sick 
upon his bed; and he called unto him his sons, and said unto 
them: Reuben, thou art my first-born, my might and the 
Oni, the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dig- 
nity and the excellency of power. When a man maketh 
his sons to inherit that which he hath, he shall acknowledge 
the fii-st-born by giving him a double portion of all that he 
hath; for he is the Ono, the beginning of his strength; the 
right of the first-born is his. This word on, like many other 
Hebrew words when used in the plural or the intensive, is 
i-epeated or doubled. Lift up now thine eyes on high and 
behold who has created all these things, who bringeth forth 
the hosts by their numbers and calleth them all by their 



13 

names, the Meroh onon, the greatness of his strength, for he 
is strong in power. And from this scripture source comes 
the custom or law of primogeniture, which then, and ever 
since, and yet prevails in many nations of the Old World, 
by which the first-bom son of the king succeeds to the 
throne of his father, and the first-born sons inherit the prop- 
erty, rights, dignities and prerogatives of their fathers; out 
of v/hich grew up an aristocracy, a privileged or ruling 
class, a nobility; and this was the great bond of England's 
U-ni-on or On-i-on ; and it was this class distinction sustain- 
ing thrones and despots, crown aud monarchies, at which 
our Constitution was striking when it twice ordained that 
no title of nobility should ever be granted. 

1)1 the Ethiopic and Hebrew, then, On was the name of 
the Sun, and was also the word which meant strength or 
power, and especially that virile, manly power in man 
which procreates life. This power they called The On or 
Sun power, as they l)elieved it to be derived directly from 
the Sun, which they believed to be the great central source 
of all power, and from this On comes the Un in our word 
sun, and also the oni in that awful god-name Aum before 
which the Brahmin trembles — that unknown, unseen, dread- 
ful somthing, that power high over and above all other pow- 
ers, the creative power; and from this Hindu Om, meaning 
all-powerful, comes the om in our omnipotent, meaning the 
all-powerful. The heathen Hindu, to whom we now send 
missionaries, gave to us this grand omnific name; and our 
missionaries now but bear it back with a grander meaning 
to the land from whence it came. In the Ethiopic and the 
Hebrew, this word om and on is one and the same, the m 
and n, or their equivalents, being so interchangeable that 



14 

at the end of words one stands for the other; and so in the 
Ethiopic and the HebreAV, Mason doubly, first in each sep- 
arate syllable, and again in the compound name, when ap- 
plied to an individual, means a strong, healthy, virile, pro- 
creative, aiioiiited, pei'fect man; and applied in architec- 
ture, means a tabernacle, set upright, anointed with holy 
oil, dedicated to sacred uses, a habitation, a dwelling, a holv 
of holies, a sanctuary of sanctuaries for the Most High; a 
building which the Great Builder, the Architect of the Uni- 
verse, has builded on the Macon — the heavens — a, dwelling 
place for Himself. And this is the origin and meaning of 
the A\ords Mason and Masonry, 

It is also an interesting inquiry why, and why it is en- 
titled to be called. Free IMasonry. After the death of Rom- 
ulus, the first king of Rome, seven hundred and thirteen 
years before the Christian Era, the people of Rome were 
divided into bitterly hostile factions, and the selection of a 
neA\' king aroused these factions to the ^'Cry verge of civil 
war. The greatest division of faction was between the 
original Romans and the Sabines, who- had been admitted 
to citizenship. But both realizing the necessity of a iiiler 
to protect them from anarchy, it was agreed between the 
Sabines and the Romans that each of the factions might 
designate a (candidate for king, but such proposed king- 
should be taken, not from the faction jiroposing him, but 
from the other; and the Romans designated Numa Pom- 
j)ilius, a Sabine, at that time only a private citizen, but dis- 
tinguished for virtue and intelligence and exevy great and 
noble quality of mind and heart, a character standing out 
then in solitary, heroic, peerless grandeur; peerless then 
and peerless since; and this selection was univei-^ally recog- 



15 

iiized as so eiiiincntlv the wisest and best that all these dis- 
cordant elements joined as with one voice in proclaiming 
him their king. He at first refnsed to accept, bnt the de- 
mand being continned, nrgent and nnanimons, he finally 
accepted, and so great, wise and good -was his inflnence that 
jealousy, discord and faction vanished, and the people of 
Rome became one, and his entire reign of forty-three years 
was a reign of peace, order and harmony; no war, not an 
insnrrection, not a sword drawn, not a hand uplifted, not a 
voice raised against his jnst, wise and beneficent rule. And 
so widespread and benignant was his inflnence and example, 
that even the hitherto warring nations aronnd him laid 
(]()\\i\ their arms, and they too were at peace. 

At that time there was in Rome certain societies or or- 
ganizations or fraternities of artisans or craftsmen called 
colleges. The most important among them was the Masons, 
or Colleges of Bnilders. They were governed hj a code, 
which was not merely rnles for their government as arti- 
sans, bnt Avas also a moral, or rather a religions, code, and 
that. too. one far in advance of the pagan religions of that 
day. They tanght the purest morality, and whilst all others 
worsliij^ped idols, they w^orshipped an unseen or spirit god. 
Admission to these colleges could only be gained by the can- 
didate passing through an initiation so severe that only the 
very iittest survived the ordeal. These initiatory ceremonies 
consisted of several degrees, embracing the learning in arts, 
science, mythology, astrology, philosophy and religion of 
the Egyptians, Hindoos, Persians, Chaldeans and Ethiopi- 
ans united into one grand system called the Greater Mys- 
teries, sacredly kept and brought down from the remotest 
ages. The highest and onlv test of admission was, Is he 



16 

wortliy and well qualified? They received the g'ood, the 
wise, the learned, the brave, the true, from every blood, 
race, tongue, people, language, nation or clime, and rejected 
the ignorant and bad, come from whence they might. They 
were skilled and learned in all the higher useful arts, and 
their mysteries were but the possession of great truths gath- 
ered and garnered from the -wisdom of the ages. They as- 
sumed the most solemn vows of brotherhood, and to the prac- 
tice of all the virtues, and to abstain from all vices. And a 
college of men thus chosen, thus skilled, thus learned, with 
such principles, and banded together for one purpose, and 
that a holy purpose, became of right a mighty power for 
good, and such a power it was, and so made its record, which 
is found in all that is best in all the sacred books of all the 
great religions of antiquity. It is found in the philosophy 
of the Magi and Sophi of Persia, the Hierophants of Mem- 
phis and the Gymnosophists of India. Homer, Lycurgus, 
Thales, Solon, Herodotus, Democritus, Orpheus, Epicurus, 
Plato, Apuleius, Plutarch, and St. John the Evangelist, had 
all passed through its ordeal and survived. And the story 
of the descent of Orpheus into the Shades, the story of the 
Isles of the Blest, of the Elysian Fields, of Elysium and 
Tartarus and the Apocalyptic Visions, are but veiled al- 
legories from its dreadful drama of initiation. To the 
greater mysteries there was a sacred password, and when 
this v.'ord was spoken by one who had passed the ordeal, 
before him the doors of the great arcanum were 0]3ened by 
unseen spirit hands. 

The three great religions through which Masonry has 
come down to us had each a Supreme God, and each a sa- 
cred name; and that talismanic word was these three god- 



17 

names combined into one, each separate, and the combined 
name, full of occnlt, awfnl and supernatural meaning. And 
it was believed tliat when spoken by one without sin would 
raise the dead, unbar the dung-eon doors of Tartarus and 
hell, release imprisoned souls, and at that magic name the 
gates of Paradise and Elysium would open wide. 

And these Masons, or Colleges of Builders, were builders 
indeed, for thev builded Rome; they quarried its marbles, 
carved its statues, Imilt its protecting walls, its monuments, 
its palaces, its temples, its pantheons and coliseums. They 
builded a temple to Fides, or Faith, the Goddess of Honor, 
or Good Faith, and in this temple the Masons worshipped, 
;ind on this altar Masons with clasped right hands took the 
oath of brotherhood and made their vows to that imseen 
spirit god as the most sacred oath and vow that Mason, man 
or mortal could take. TTnder the direction of the peace-lov- 
ing King Nunia they built a temple to Janus, the God of 
Peace. That temple had two great doors. In time of peace 
these doors were closed; in time of war, stood open, indi- 
cating that the god had gone forth to the cani]> of war; for 
when Rome was in peril every Roman must defend her, 
and even her tutelary god of peace himself must go forth, 
and that, too, as the leader of her legions. During the en- 
tire forty-three years of the reign of the good King Numa, 
the God of Peace remained in his temple, the great doors 
unopened, while during the centuries which thereafter 
came these doors stood almost continually open, Rome be- 
ing almost continuously at "war. 

In such high estimation Avere the Masons held by good 
King ISTuma, that he granted to them a charter of freedom, 

(2) 



IS 

unlimited inid perpetual. Aud thus free, the Masons 
carved and Iniilded until Rome heeame the capital, queen 
city and proud mistress of the world. And still the Masons 
were free. Free during the reign of the kings. Free dur- 
ing the periods of the republics. Free during even the ty- 
rannical empires of all the Caesars and all of their succes- 
sors. And thus the Masons continued to be Free Masons, 
and Masonry a great moral poM^er when Rome itself had 
ceased to be a power, and Rome itself was no longer free. 
And thus for Twenty-seven hundred years the Masons have 
continued to be Free Masons, and Masonry a gTeat moral 
world power, and still teaches the same grand gospel of lib- 
erty our Mason fathers taught^ — liberty of action, thought 
and conscience; teaches that all men are and of right ought 
to be free, free to think for themselves, free to worship Clod 
according to the dictates of their own consciences. Its 
teachings inspired the Magna Charta, the Declaration of 
American Independence and the Constitution ordained by 
Washington and the fathers of the Republic to secure tiie 
blessings of liberty to themselves and their posterity for- 
ever. It teaches, too, that there is a higher realm of free- 
dom where truth alone makes free, free from ignorance, 
bigotry, superstition and sin. It teaches, too, that "They 
who would be free themselves must strike the blow." Its 
teachings of the rights of man huve caused tyrants to trem- 
ble, thrones to totter and despotisms to fall, never ! never ! 
never ! again to rise. 

Masonry was a potent iiifliienee in guiding our nation in 
its evolution from a British dependency to a great, free re- 
public, in inspiring sentiments of liberty, in firing the 
hearts of men who would be free, in devising practical sys- 



19 

terns, congresses, declarations of independence, articles of 
confederation, constitutions, and, sword in hand, fighting 
freedom's battles. 

In the year 1754 a congress of the colonies was held in 
Albany, New York, and Benjamin Franklin, a member and 
a Mason, introduced a plan of perpetual union; and on the 
fourth day of July, 1754, herald of a more glorious Fourth 
of 'Inly yet to come, that plan of union was adopted, and 
only failed by one ■vote of being ratified by the colonies. 
That great man and good Mason, Benjamin Franklin, with 
a prescience almost more than human, read the stars, the 
portents and omens of the future, but was in advance of his 
age. Yet his work was not lost. It was good seed sown on 
good ground, the germ and forerunner of that constitution 
which later came — the glorious constitution under which 
we are living to-day. 

One great influence which fired the American heart and 
hurried on the Revolution, was the throwing of the tea over- 
board in Boston harbor. Three British ships lay in that 
harbor laden with tea. On the night of the thirteenth day 
of December, 1773, a great town meeting was held in the 
old South Church in Boston, at which th(^ question 
was discussed whether that tea should be permitted to be 
landed. The discussion, continued far into the night, but 
finally came to a decision, and that great meeting of seven 
thousand unanimously decided that the tea should not be 
landed. And the historian relates that when the decision 
was announced, vSamuel Adams, the great patriot, rose and 
gave the ivord. Witliout a seeming band of soine fifty Mo- 
hawk Indian warriors were waiting and listening; and an- 
SAvering to that ivord a shout, a war-whoop, went up, and at 



20 

a signal from John Hancock, the Mason, Panl Revere, the 
Mason, standing by his side, that band of Indian warriors 
marched single-file to Boston harbor, cast the tea into the 
ocean, and vanished in the darkness of the night, none 
knowing whence they came or whither they went. That 
seeming band of Indian warriors was a band of patriot 
Masons. A Boston Masonic Lodge had met that night, but 
were called from labor to refreshment; Panl Revere, the 
Mason, afterward Glrand Master of Massachusetts, succeed- 
ing General Warren, superintending them during the hours 
thereof; and during those hours of refreshment they re- 
paired to Boston harbor, refreshed themselves by casting 
the tea overboard, and thus refreshed they returned to the 
lodge and were called on again in due season. And so well 
was the secret kept that not until long after the war was 
ended was it known to any but the actors who it was that 
composed the famous Boston I'ea Party. 

On the night of the eighteenth day of April, 1775, the 
British General, Gage, sent a detachment of British troops 
from Boston to Concord to arrest Samuel Adams and John 
Hancoek for treason, and to seize a quantity of ammuni- 
tion stored at that point; and Joseph Warren, that vigilant 
sentinel ]\Iason on the outposts of liberty, rang the alarm 
bells of Boston, and Paul Revere, the Mason, rode in the 
darkness of midnight like a thunderbolt of war to Lexing- 
ton, and called the minute men to arms; and before the daAvn 
of that fateful nineteenth day of April, 1775, at Lexington, 
the embattled fanners stood and fired the shot heard around 
the world; and there was shed the first blood of the Revolu- 
tion, and freedom's great battle was on. But O, what an 
unequal contest! On the one side a few almost unarmed. 



21 

undisciplined farmers without a leader; on the other a well- 
armed, well-disciplined great army of the greatest militar;^ 
power in the world, with a despot for a king. And there 
was f ought the first battle of the Revolution; and there 
American blood was shed; and there American lives were 
laid down upon freedom's altar. But that blood was not 
shed in vain. That day w^as not lost. That blood was 
martyr blood, and each martyr drop cried from the ground 
unto Heaven, and Heaven heard and answered the cry. On 
the nineteenth day of April, I78e3, eight years to a day 
from the battle of Lexington where the war was begun, 
Washington, the Mason, Commander-in-Chief, issued a 
proclamation to his victorious armies, proclaiming that the 
war was ended and a treaty of peace had been signed be- 
tween, the Kingdom of (Ireat Britain and the free and in- 
dependent United States of America. 

The battles of the Revolution were fought and won un- 
der the administration of the Continental Congresses, and 
Peyton Randolph, a Mason, was President of the First Con- 
gress, that of 1Y74; and that Congress adopted resolutions 
declaratory of American rights, and also a resolution of 
commercial non-intercourse with Great Britain. And J ohn 
Hancock, the Mason, was President of the Second Conti- 
nental Congress, that of 1775; and that Congress ap- 
pointed George Washington, a Mason, Commander-in- 
Chief of the armies. And John Hancock, the Mason, was 
again President of tlie Third Continental Congress, that of 
1776; and that Congress, thank Heaven, was nearly all 
Masons, for that Congress adopted the Declaration of 
American Independence. On the seventh day of June, 
1776, Richard Henry Tee, a Mason from Virginia, intro- 



22 

duced into that Congress a declaration declaring tliat these 
united colonies are and of right ought to be free and inde- 
pendent states; and that declaration was referred to a coni- 
uiittee composed mostly of Masons, among them Robert 
Livingston, Grand Master of ISTew York, and Benjamin 
Franklin, Grand Master of Pennsylvania, and that commit- 
tee reported the full text of that declaration, and on the 
fourth day of July, 1776, that declaration was adopted. 
And of the fifty-six signers of that declaration of Ameri- 
can Independence fifty-two were Masons, the first and bold- 
est signature that of John Hancock, the Mason President 
of that Congress. And that declaration was ^vritteu upon 
a white lambskin, a Mason's apron. Some years ago I saw 
the original parchment on which that declaration was wa-it- 
ten, in the archives of our government at Washington, 
sacredly kept as were the tables of stone in the ark of the 
covenant at Horeb, the only signature yet legible being that 
of John Hancock, the Mason President of that Congress. 
And as the sons of freemen look upon that blank parch- 
ment, with that one immortal Masonic name, what sacred 
memories it awakens ! What hopes and glories of the future 
it foretells ! Only a blank parchment, only a white lamb- 
skin, yet it was a sacred thing to patriot millions dead. It 
is a sacred thing to patriot millions living, and will be a 
sacred thing to patriot millions yet unborn. Only a blank 
parchment, only a white lambskin, yet it was the charter 
of a nation's liberties. Only a blank parchment, only a 
white lambskin, yet the grandest page the muse of history 
has ever read or written, or ever will. 

That patriot Mason Congress of 1776, John Hancock, 
the Mason President, also prepared the articles of confeder- 



atioii. Jolni ]\Iortoii, a Mason, afterward Cliief Justice of 
Pennsylvania, A\as chairman of tlie committee that drafted, 
reported and recommended the adoption of these articles, 
and their tinal adoption by Congress in 1778 is attested by 
the signatures of many Masons, among them John Han- 
cock, Ricliai'd llenry Lee and William H. Drayton, Chief 
Justice of South Carolina and (^rand Master of that State. 
?vlany of the soldiers of the Revolution were Masons, and 
a large number of its officers Avere Masons, and all of its 
great generals, fifteen in numJ)er, were Masons, and five of 
these were Grand Masters of Grand Lodges. And the first, 
AVashingtoi), the C*ommander-in-Chief from the beginning 
to the end, was a Mason, a charter member and Worshipful 
Master of a Virginia Lodge. And General Joseph War- 
ren, who rang the alarm bells of Boston and died upon 
Bunker Hill, was a Mason and Grand Master of Massachu- 
setts. And General Steuben was a Mason. Lie learned the 
art of war under Frederick the Great, the great king and 
great soldier, and great ^lasou, and (leneral Steuben 
taught tl;at great soldier's art of war to the Ameri- 
can army, winch made it an army indeed. And Gen- 
eral DeKall), who fell at the battle of {^aniden pierced 
with eleven \vounds, was a ]\Iason. General John 
Sullivan was a ^Mason and Grand ^Lister of jSTew 
Hampshire. And General Richard Henry Lee, wdio intro- 
duced the Declaration of Independence into the Continen- 
tal Congress, was a Mason. And General Rufus Putnam 
was a Mason and first Grand Master of Ohio. And General 
Israel Putnam, who commanded at Bunker Hill, was a 
Mason. General Lafayette, the bosom friend and com- 
panion of Washington, and General Francis Marion were 



24 

Masons. And General Richard Caswell, the first Governor 
of Xorth Carolina, was a Mason and Grand Master of that 
State. And General Patterson was a Mason and Worship- 
fnl Master of the American Union Lodge, an army Lodge 
in Washington's camp. And it was in that armv Lodge 
that Washington, the Mason, Commander-in-Chief, snr- 
roiinded by his trnsted Mason generals, and tiled by Mason 
gnards, held his grand councils of war. And General 
David Wooster was a Mason and Worshipful Master of the 
first Connecticut Lodge. And General Edmund Randolph, 
Washington's Aid during the war, member of the United 
States Constitutional Convention, first United States At- 
torney-General, and second Ignited States Secretary of 
State, and Governor of Virginia, was a Mason and Grand 
Master of that State. It was through the Masonic influ- 
ence of Benjamin Franklin, a Mason, that General I^afa- 
yette, a Mason, together v/ith the French nation, came to our 
aid. And it was Robert Morris, the Mason, who managed 
the nation's financial affairs through that critical period, 
and without which aid all else must have failed. Masons, 
too, ever first at the cradle of liberty, were there and gave 
inspiration to the Constitution of our countr^'. Many of 
the members of that convention were Masons, among them 
Richard Henry Lee, who introduced the Declaration of In- 
dependence into the (continental Congress, and Benjamin 
Franklin, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and 
who did more to advance the science of electricity than all 
the two thousand four hundred years since the day of 
Thales of Miletus, was a Mason and Grand Master of Penn- 
sylvania. And first and highest, the immortal Washing- 
ton, the President of that Convention, was a Mason. And 



thns the Presidents of all the Continental Congresses, that 
made Washington Commander-in-Chief, that declared the 
Declaration of Independence, that adopted the Articles of 
Confederation, and the President of the Convention that 
ordained our Constitution, and the first President of the 
United States — the first great free republic of the world — 
were Masons, as is also our present President now at our 
jSTation's helm. And that grand old hero-President, An- 
drew Jackson, was a Mason and Grand Master of 
Tennessee. 

One of the great casuistical questions is. Does God an- 
s^ver prayer ? And we may confidently believe God does 
not answer prayer through miracles or by reversing the 
laws of nature. But we may well believe that God does 
carry into execution his designs and purposes, both in the 
moral and the physical world, through means and processes 
and natural laws set in motion, guided and directed by the 
human wish and will. 

Geology teaches us that all creation is formation and 
re-formation. Every hour we see about us production and 
destruction, groAvth and decay. What wonderful processes 
are employed in the production of vegetable growt^h, from 
the smallest plant to the mightiest forest. The rain and 
the sunshine combine, and these again combine with the 
unseen elements of the air, and these again ^Aath the atoms 
of the earth, to produce verdure and forest which clothe 
and crowm the world with beauty. 

The com in the granary is an answer tO' prayer — answers 
brought by God's own swift-winged messengers, nature's 
laws; answers to the prayer of the husbandman's plow in 
the furrow; to the prayer of the sweep and swing of the 



26 

sower's arm; to the pra^'er of the thrust of the keen-edged 
scythe in the ripened harvest; to the prayer of the resound- 
ing flail on the thresliing floor; to the prayer of the win- 
nowing fan in labor's hand. 

The planting of a tree is a prayer, and though no word 
he spoken it is an inefi^ahle prayer from the heart of a trust 
in (lod. Yet that prayer must await (rod's OA\ni good time, 
and for a time that prayer may seem unanswered; yet that 
ansvv^er is surely on the way, for daj by day that tree is 
striking deeper and firmer its roots, day by day waving 
higher and higher its branohes. Years go by, and it is win- 
ter. Each twig is white with frost and cold, and even the 
promised bud seems dead. And yet no answer to the tree- 
planted prayer has come. But another springtime comes, 
and with it leaves and buds and blossoms, heralds of prom- 
ise. And later comes another time of the ripening of 
fruits, and lo! swaying in the autumn wiud each pendent 
twig has brought an answer to that tree-planted prayer. 
Robed in garments of russet and crimson and gold, that 
ripened nectared fruit, apples from the gardens of the gods, 
are but waiting the petitioner's hand to gather the answer to 
that tree-planted prayer, for that answer has indeed come. 
But from where? or whence? or how? Before the fruit 
Avas the blossom; but wdienoe? Before the blossom, the 
bud; but whence? Then further must M'^e seek; down 
through the twdg, the limb, the branch, the trunk. But 
further must we seek ; doAvn among the gnarled and knott-ed 
roots. But deeper, further yet; down among the myriad 
i"ootlets underground must we go. But deeper, further yet. 
But no deeper can we go, for we are now in earth's deep, 
dark caverns. And can it be that that o-lorified answer to 



27 

t.lie prayer of faith and hope and trust in God came from 
this dark cell? Where are now the gnomes and titans, 
mighty toilers underground, of whom in the mythologies 
we are told? Is not this rather a tomh, a grave, a sepulchre 
of dead and buried hopes, than a treasure-house where 
gifts of God are stored? Here naught is to he seen but 
clods, dark, damp clods. But tear those roots and clods 
asunder, and the clods will remain; but the roots, the tree, 
the trunk, the limbs, the twig, the bud, the blossom will 
wither and perish and die, and no answer to the tree-planted 
prayer ever corners. Thus far have we traced these prayer- 
answering messengers of God, and the last messenger that 
mortal eyes has seen was but a clod. But clods are servants 
of God, and that dark damp came from the clouds and dews 
when the stars were shining, spirit messengers bearing an- 
swers to human prayer, and other \\alling messengers are 
waiting to bear these answers on. Above even the darkness, 
the night, the cold, the frost, the snow, the ice and blasts 
of winter are fellow-messengers with the dews and whisper- 
ing zeyphrs of summer among the leaves. And the far- 
away sun is sending on beams of light and warmth, tributes 
of perfume for its blossoms. Ripening for its nectar and 
dyes of crimson and gold for its robings. And thus the 
tree-plant-ed prayer is answered. But from whence, and 
where, and how? From out the earth, the sea and the air. 
From out of the unseen and the infinite. Brought by God's 
own swift-winged messengers, nature's laws, apples of gold 
from the gardens, and wines from the vintages of the gods. 
How wonderful, too, are the processes employed in the 
production of animal life, from the smallest insect to the 
leviathan and the behemoth. AYhat wonderful processes 



28 

are employed in the production of a human being — this 
wonderful human body and more wonderful immortal soul. 
What a wondrous thing is the birdling in its nest and the 
lamb in the meadow ! The sleeping, helpless babe in its 
cradle I All these had birth and growth and development 
through time and means and processes, from the lowest 
form of inanimate matter to the highest human intellect. 
Motives, passions, impulses, feelings of the heart go out and 
influence the will; the will directs the intelligence, and the 
intelligence goes out in the labors that produce results, 
changes conditions, creates or destroys, builds up and tears 
do\vn. And good or l)ad feelings of the heart produce good 
or bad results, changing the oi-der of CA^ents and directing 
the destinies. And he who rises from his knees, having sin- 
cerely asked for aid and guidance from on liigh, Avill rise 
with a better heart and a higher and holier purpose within 
him, and that holier purpose will go out and influence and 
direct the will, and will find expression in labors that pro- 
duce good results, and these ■ results are the answers to 
prayer; and thus the tree-planted prayer has been answered. 
For the labor that planted it has been answered, and when 
the labor that planted and tended is answered, the labor 
that inspired it is answered, and thus God does answer 
prayer; not through miracles or the reversion of natural 
laws, but through means and processes, and directly 
through natural laws set in motion, guided and directed by 
liiunan wish and will ; an answer to the prayer of the heart 
and the hand; an answer to the prayer of faith and works, 
an answ^er to the prayer of intelligence and labor; for the 
Mason's motto is, ''Lahorare est orare, labor is worship, 
labor is prayer." 



29 

One of the most forcible illustrations oi this theory is 
fonnd in an event which occurred in the United States Con- 
stitutional Convention; an event not only of world-^vide, 
Init almost of etemity-wide importance. Many members 
of that Convention warmly favored the adoption of the 
draft of the Constitution as prepared by a committee of five 
appointed for that purpose, while many others ])itterjy op- 
posed it; and these dissensions culminated in differences 
which seemed in-econcilable, and a resolution was intro- 
duced to adjourn without day, with every probability that it 
w^ould be adopted, when Benjamin Franklin, a member, 
and a Mason, over eighty years of age, introduced a substi- 
tute resolution, that instead of adjourning without day, 
each morning l>efore conimeucing their deliberations a 
prayer be offered up asking wisdom and guidance from on 
high, and with majestic eloquence plead for its adoption, 
declaring that for himself he would join in that prayer, 
and so conduct himself as if he believed (which indeed he 
did) that God was waiting and willing to answer the prayers 
should they be found worthy. The resolution was adopted. 
The first prayer was offered, and a holy hush and calm from 
above came down upon them, and thenceforward the dis- 
cussions were conducted with temperate zeal, with mutual 
concession and courtesy, and resulted in the adoption of 
that glorious Constitution under ^^diich we are living to- 
day; a Constitution, which, together with the Ten Com- 
mandments, the Sermon on the Mount and the Declaration 
of American Independence will constitute a grand code of 
goverament for the v^^orld when tlie millenium comes. 
And thus the prayer of that good man and Mason, Benja- 
min Franklin, was answered; and thus the moniing prayer 



30 

of that gTeat Constitutional Convention, the gTandest san- 
hedrin that ever sat in council, was answered. God had in- 
deed answered with the ^andest answer the grandest 
prayer that ever went up from the footstool to the tlirone; 
and that nation, then composed of a few feeble, discordant 
colonies, grew into a great free nation, the greatest, freest 
nation in the world, the only nation trnly free, the only 
nation in which the people govern themselves; and nnder 
the protecting Aegis of that Constitntion is gathered the 
lives, the liberties, the homes, the destinies of a nation of 
eighty millions of free, happy, united people, the Ivonds of 
union every year groA\'ing brighter and stronger; every year 
another sister State added to the band of the free, and every 
year anotlier star added to the constellation on its flag'. 
Who that believes that God made and rules the world can 
doubt that that Constitution was an answer to prayer ? Who 
can doubt that its authors were inspired by ^visdoln from on 
high { Who can df^ubt that their lips were touched as with 
a live coal from the altar, as were the hallowed lips of Isaiah 
and the other great j^rophets of old ? 

And thus it will be seen that Masonry was the inspira- 
tion, and Masons the elected instrumentality through which 
our liberties were won. Without Masons and Masonr}', 
the tea would not have Ijeen thro^^^l overboard at Boston. 
Without Masons and Masonry, the alarm l^ells of Boston 
would not have been rung. Without Masous and Ma- 
sonry, the battle of Lexington would not have been fought. 
Without Masons and Masonry, Washington Avould not have 
been appointed commander-in-chief. Without Masons and 
Masonry, the Declaration of Independence would not 
have been declared. Without Masons and Masonry, the 



ol 

Articles of Confederation wonld not have been adopted. 
Withont Masons and Masonr\-, the battles of the Revolu- 
tion would not have been fought, or, if fought, without its 
Mason generals, conld not have been won. Without Ma- 
sons and Masonry, the Constitution of the United States 
would not have been ordained. Strike from the history 
of OTU' revolutionary period this niiglity chain of events, 
strike a single mighty link from this mighty chain, and 
our liberties would not have been won. And thus, in the 
very throes of our nation's birth, when freedom's battles 
were being fought and freedom's triumphs won, Masons 
were there in the thick and forefront of the fight, and Ma- 
son captains, too, it ^vas that led her conquering heroes on; 
and Masons, too, it Avas that wrote the title deeds and gave 
inspiration to the world's great chartei's and monuments of 
lil)erty. 

When AVashington took the first oath as President of 
the T'nited States, the oath was administered by Robert 
Livingston, the Grand Master of IS'ev; York, on the Altar 
Bible of St. John's Lodge No. 1; and when the corner 
stone of tlie capitol was laid at Washington, the stone was 
laid by Masons, and Washington was present as President 
and also as a Alason, clothed in the Masonic regalia. Wasli- 
ington the Great, Washington the gTeatest of mortals, 
Washington the immortal, lived and died a Mason, and 
Masons bore his sacred dust to the tomb and laid upon his 
cotfin the Acacia, syml)ol of immortality, and every century 
hereafter, for centuries and centuries. Masons will gather 
at that shrine to render homage akin to worship. 

liichard, the Lion Hearted, was a Mason; and Cromwell, 
the Protector, was a Mason; and Garibaldi, the Liberator 



32 

of Italy, was a Mason; and Kossutli, the great Hungarian 
patriot, was a Mason, and was brought to light in the City 
of Indianapolis in the old hall which stood where now this 
Temple stands; Henrv Clay, the great orator and states- 
man, was a Mason and Grand Master of Kentucky; Burns, 
the great poet; Wesley, the great Eyangelist; Wren and 
Steinhach, the great architects, were Masons — gi'eat men, 
they shed lustre upon Masonry, but Masonry had helped 
to make them great. 

Masonry extends, too, to labor's hand a friendly and a 
brotherly token. It teaches' the duty and dignity of labor. 
It teaches that all labor that is useful is honest, and all labor 
that is honest is honorable; that labor is not a badge of 
servility, but a crown of honor. It teaches, too, that labor 
creates all; that in the beginning labor, the labor of an Al- 
mighty hand, created the heayens and the earth and all that 
in them is. The Mason's motto is, "Labot^are est orare; 
labor is worship, labor is prayer." In our ritual the Mason 
will find a friend and monitor, for it teaches him how to 
employ his time, how to divide the hours of the day. And 
first, eight hours to the service of God, and eight hours to 
labor in his usual A'ocation. And this grand precept has 
gone out of our Lodges, out and abroad into the world, un- 
til custom, commerce, law and humanity's great heart have 
caught up the cry, and they too have said and are saying, 
and will continue to say, eight hours for labor. 

Yes, Masonry in its origin was a religion, and to our an- 
cient brethren their all, for life and death, for earth and 
sky, for time and the eternal, and might almost yet be 
called a religion. T^pon our altars glows a Great Light, a 
lamp to our feet and a light to our path; the same Great 



Light that ilhinies the higliest religious thought of the 
world to-day. We put our trust in the same God, we ac- 
cept the same commandments and sermons given to our 
fathers upon the mountains, whether amid the thunders of 
Sinai or the quiet groves of Olivet. 

Many of the great religious festivals of the world are of 
Masonic origin. The ancient Masons celebrated every year 
four great festivals, all astronomical, the solstices and the 
equinoxes. These notable phenomena in the sky the an- 
cient Masons celebrated as festivals thousands of years ago. 
They celebrated the summer solstice, the 24th day of June, 
the longest day in the year, and yet celebrate it as the festi- 
vul of St. John, the Baptist. They also celebrated the Avin- 
ter solstice, the 25th day of December, the shortest day in 
the year, and the ancient Masons commenced their new 
year on this day. And the deity that presided in the sky 
over the opening of this new year they called Janus, or the 
opener of the door of the heavens, from which comes our 
word "janitor," the door opener, and "January," the first 
or opening month in the year. This solstice is also yet cele- 
brated by the Masons as a festival, and intended to be called 
by its ancient name, but slightly changed in the pronuncia- 
tion — not Janus's day, but St. John's day, the festival of 
St. John, the Evangelist. And the midnight hour of this 
festival dnj they cCiobrated with feasts and songs and glad- 
ness and rejoicings, as on that midnight hour the sun 
seemed to stand for a moment still, and in that moment of 
stillness cold winter died and the new year and springtime 
were born. It is now called Christmas, and the "mas" is 
the same as the "mas" in Mason and Messiah, which means 



(3) 



34 

"to anoint," or "the anointed," and is yet celebrated the 
\vide world over with feasts and songs and gladness and re- 
joicings. Onr ancient brethren called it Hied, a name 
given to it by the Chaldeans thousands of years ago. In 
the Chaklaic language Uhd means at tlie very beginning — 
the instant at which order came out of chaos — the instant 
at which light sprang from darkness; and in the Chaldaic 
and Hebrew this word Uled means "a birth," or "to be 
born," and is the identical word nsed by God himself when 
he said to Eve, "In son-ow shalt tlioii bring forth children;'" 
the identical word nsed Avlien it is said that Cain, the first- 
born child was born; the identical Avord nsed when it was 
said that Abel and Seth and Enoch and Methuselah and 
Xoali and Shem and Ham and Japheth were bom. It is also 
the identical word used when it is said that unto the sons of 
God and the daughters of men children were born, mighty 
men of renown. It is also the identical word used when it is 
said that the patriarchs were born.; and again when God 
promised Abraliam that a son should be born unto Sarah. 
It is the identical word used when God said unto David, 
"Behold, a son shall be born inito thee, and he shall be a 
man of rest, for his name shall be Solomon," the sign or 
symbol of peace; the identical word used by the prophets 
when they foretold the birth of the Savior, saying, "A man 
of God came out of Judea unto Bethel, and cried against 
the altar, O altar, altar, thus saith the Lord: Behold, a 
child shall be bom unto the House of David, flosiah his 
name." And again Avhen Isaiah utters that wonderful 
phophecy, "Tor unto us a child is l)orn, untO' us a son is 
given, and the government shall be upon his shoulders; and 



85 

liis name shall he ealled Wonderful, (^nnselor, the Mi,ii,'hty 
God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace." 

Yes, Masonry in its origin was a religion, and might yet 
almost be called a religion. Onr pathway on earth is the 
same, and our goal beyond is the same. Both teach men 
better how to live, and l)etter how to die. And both teach 
that though a man die, yet he shall live again. Our ritual 
is a sublime scheme of moral philosophy, and outside of 
Christianity the highest and best known to men, and well 
worthy to go hand in hand and a co-worker ^vith religion, 
and for centuries so hand in hand has gone, and for cen- 
turies yet to come so hand in hand will go. 

Many members of those Roman Colleges of Builders ac- 
companied the legions under Caesar into Gaul and Britain 
nearly two thousand years ago. They were the engineers 
for the legions, constructing their camps and fortifications, 
and founded many of what are noAV great cities of Great 
Britain. And as members of such Colleges of Builders 
they were still free; free from all laws but their owai, and 
amenable to no tribunal but their o\\t;i. The good King 
]*^uma, a king chosen and crowned by the people; a king, 
yet an apostle of liberty and peace, granted the Masons of 
Rome a charter of freedom. To the Romans the far-away 
land of Gaul, the sunset side of the Alps, was then an un- 
known wilderness, its people wandering savages. Seven 
hundred years later, in Bethlehem of Judea, arose a yet 
greater prophet, a yet mightier king, and gave to the world a 
yet grander charter of freedom, and that later prophet, that 
mightier king, sent forth his apostles and commanded them 
to go into all the world and preach the ►gospel to every 
creature. An<l as they went, some of them came to Rome, 



36 

then the capital, the queen city, the imperium in imperio 
of the world. And there they taught, saying, "Thou shalt 
not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of 
anything that is in heaven above, or the earth beneath, or 
in the waters under the earth. Thou slialt not bow down 
unto them nor serve them; for God is a spirit, and they 
that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in 
truth. The Romans also had a worship, magnificent tem- 
ples and a powerful priesthood and many gods, but not 
spirit gods. Their people and their Caesars, and even their 
Virgils and Ciceros bo^v^ed down in adoration to images of 
molten brass and sculptured stone called Jupiter, and Mars, 
and Bacchus, and Apollo, and Venus, and Juno, and Diana, 
and Minerva, and a host of other gods and goddesses, great 
and small. And those idol-worshipping Romans persecuted 
the Christians because they refused to bow do^\ai to those 
graven images, or worship those idol gods; persecuted them 
with prison, stripes and death. The Masons had been com- 
manded when persecuted in one city to flee to another, and 
thus persecuted in the great city of Rome, then the center 
of the world's civilization, they fled to the land of tlie sav- 
age, to the mlderness of Gaul. But by decree of the Roman 
Emperor, persecution followed them even there. But 
Numa's Colleges of Builders, j^uma's Masons, ISTuma's 
T'ree Masons were there, and there before them, and still 
free. And when the Christians learned that the Masons 
were thus free and above the laws of imperial Rome, they 
sought and gained admission to the Masonic fraternities, 
and this admission at once invested them witli the same 
rights of freedom where the edicts of persecution and death 
of idol-worshipping Roman Emperors could not reach 



37 

them. And when thus admitted, to their mntnal ghid sur- 
prise, they found that the philosophy of the Masons and 
the religion of the (Christians in all their great essential 
teachings were the same. Both taught the existence of one 
God, tlie immortality of the soul, a future of rewards and 
punishments. Both taught the great fatherhood of God and 
the universal brotherhood of man, and they thus found 
themselves bound together by a common tie, the tie of a 
sworn brotherhood and believers in the same creed and gos- 
pel of truth. And thenceforward from the Masonic col- 
leges went out Christianity's greatest apostles and boldly 
preached the gospel under the protecting shield of the 
Masonic name, until Christianity became a great moral 
power, and later, under the Emperor Constantine, a great 
political power. For the Emperor became first a Mason, 
and then a Christian, and then proclaimed Christianity the 
religion of the State, A^diioh it ever since has been and yet 
is, and able to protect itself. And then the Masons built 
for the Christians their churches, their abbeys, their altars 
and their cathedrals. 

One Christian Mason fell a martyr. Carausias was at that 
time commander of the Roman navy. He took possession 
of Britain, and proclaimed himself Emperor of the West. 
Albanus, a Christian and a Mason, Avas then Britain's first 
Grand Master of Masons, and he conducted the negotia- 
tions between the Masons and the Emperor with such suc- 
cess that the Emperoi- confirmed to the Masons all their 
ancient privileges, and Albanus then attempted to convert 
the Emperor to Christianity, at which the Emperor took 
such offense that he ordered Albanus to be beheaded, 
A^^hich Avas done. And thus Britain's first Grand Master of 



38 

Masons hecanie Britain's first Christian martyr- The place 
'wiiere he was martyred was then the royal residence of the 
Emperor and \vas called Venilam, bnt the name was 
changed to that of the Martyred Grand Master, and for a 
thousand years the name has been, and yet is, Saint Albans, 
a town on a hill near what is now England's gi'eat capital 
city, then but a hamlet. 

And thns he died. Died as the Messiah died. Died as 
died the Masons' First Grand Master, the first grand archi- 
tect of the fii-st grand temple to the living God. They all 
died martyrs. All hated l)ecaiise they were good, aiid slain 
by those they wonld have blest. The Messiah died npon 
JMonnt C'alvar\-. llie Masons' first Grand Master died 
npon Monnt Moriah, and England's first grand Master nj^wn 
]\Ionnt ^'enllam, now St. Albans. They all died npon 
monntain tops, and their martyr blood made those monnts, 
like Horeb and Sinai, holy gTound, sacred places, shrines 
forever. But not to the chief priests and elders, not to the 
Pilates, the Herods or the Gaesai-s; not to tlie crnciiiers, the 
mnrderers; bnt to the crncified, the mnrdered, the noble, 
holy, martyred God-like dead. And thns is good brought 
out of evil. The cross is changed from ignominy to a sym- 
bol of glory shining \vith the inscription, "In this sign con- 
qner.'' And the grave where the body lays down its bones, 
is where the spirit, too, lays down its fetters and takes on 
its seraphim wings. It was the crncifixions and the mart>a'- 
doms that tonched and awakened Immanity's great heart, 
and this made Christianity and Masonry, and this again 
made the world's highest and best civilization. Strike the 
crncifixion from Christianity, strike the mnrdered Grand 
Master from Masonry, and the great central fignre, the 



39 

spirit, the divine essence, the inspiration wonkl be lost. 
Every holy canse must have a baptism, and that baptism 
mnst always be in blood, and that blood must always be of 
the bravest and best, and a resurrection to a higher life can 
only be by an angel from heaven rolling back a great stone 
from the door of the sepulchre. The death of the mar- 
tyred Grand Master united the Masons and Christians of 
England in a new and holier tie and a grander purpose. 
That holier tie a great, common sorrow, mourners at the 
same tomb; that grander pur^wse a greater determination 
to overcome evil with good, as good is the mighty weapon 
with which all evil shall be overcome and finally destroyed, 
as the warmest, softest, gentlest sunbeam not only loosens 
but breaks the strongest fetters of ice the fiercest, coldest 
north wind can bind. 

The Masons, too, suffered persecution; persecution l)y 
tyrants, despots and bigots, because they stood for the rights 
of man and proclaimed and demanded civil, religious and 
political liberty. But from this persecution they came 
forth grander, braver, stronger and purer, as flowers yield 
their sweetest perfume when bruised, as the purest gold 
comes from fires that are fiercest, as the oak exposed to the 
storm but strikes a deeper, firmer root than the oak that is 
sheltered from the blast. 

With this notable exception of the martyred Grand Mas- 
ter, Masonry protected Christianity in England in the days 
of its weakness, and the historian declare? that it was thus 
better protected and preserved in greater purity in Eng- 
land than in any other nation. And this is the source from 
which comes the inspiration which made England what it 
has been and is, and to this it owes the liigh civilization it 



40 

enjoys to-day. Masoiu-y and Christianity hand in hand 
^xere the moral inspiration which gave to England domin- 
ion of the sea, made it the antocrat of commerce and a 
great center from which radiated, and is radiating, illumi- 
nation to the world. 

How wonderfully the ages are linked together. Two 
thousand and seven hundred years ago, the good King 
Numa granted to the Masons of the then infant city of 
Rome a charter of freedom; and thus free, they carved 
and builded and developed the arts of sculpture and ai'chi- 
tecture and builded Rome, and thence carried the arts of 
civilization into the wilderness of Gaul, and from thence 
it spread abroad into hemispheres and continents then un- 
known, and became a mighty influence in moulding and 
directing the civilization of the world; then and ever since 
until now, a mighty moral force for good, and so it will 
continue to be until time shall be no more. 

Yes, how wonderfully the ages are linked together. 
Strike Christianity from the world, and how changed would 
be its civiKzation. Strike Masonry from the past and again 
how changed. But strike both Masonry and Christianity 
and their joint work from the world, and again how 
changed, how darkly changed would be the destiny of man. 
The good Kmg Xuma could not foresee these grand results; 
but Ave, the heirs of his good deeds, can look back along the 
pathway of time and history, and read the records of the 
epochs, and see the great links of the mighty chain binding 
the destiny of the past with the destiny of the present and 
all time to come. Most kings have been despots and tyrants 
and scourges, but that one good deed of a good king, two 
thousand seven hundred vears ago, was the fountain source 



41 

of a stream of beneficence to the world which has flowed on. 
broadening and deepening and ^\idening as the ages past 
rolled by, and mil continue to broaden and deepen and 
widen as the ages yet to come roll on, roll on, roll on 
forever. 

The reverent man cannot believe tliis was the mere acci- 
dent of human events, the mere random cast of a die, from 
the hand of a blind fate, but must be a design from the 
trestle of the Grand Architect, and foreordained in the 
councils of heaven. Yes, Masom-y is old, old as the religions 
of Egypt, India, Persia, Chaldea, and Ethiopia, from which 
it has come down to us. It builded the monuments of the 
buried long ago. It laid the foundation stones of the pyra- 
mids, standing out among the desert sands like mighty 
toru])stones at the sepulchres of dead empires. It has 
founded nations, and written their epitaphs. Old, yes older 
than history. Old, yes older than tradition. Old, its rec- 
ord may be read in the scattered leaves of the mythologies, 
in the papyri of Egypt, and the vitrified bricks of Baby- 
lon, and the long-buried but now exhumed tablets of Nine- 
veh and the obelisks of Luxor and Karnak; and far down 
under ground the explorer of to-day, by the light of his 
lamp, may read the Masonic signets set there three thou- 
sand years ago upon the very foundation stones of Solo- 
mon's Temple; and read those signets again in the great 
quarries from whence the stones for its building were taken. 

And may it be perpetual ! While the stars glitter in the 
firmament of night, while the sun rides in a chariot of fire 
through heaven's vault at noon-day, may it be perpetual ! 
While storm shall rage and lightnings flash, and thunders 
crash, may it be perpetual ! While sickness, sin and sor- 



42 

row, pestilence and death walk abroad, may it be perpetual ! 
While brother needs a brother, while widows weep and 
orphans moan, may it be perpetual ! While truth needs an 
advocate, innocence a defender, virtue a protector, freedom 
a soldier or mercy a ministering angel, may it be perpetnal ! 
And not until the last sin shall have been forgiven, and 
the last tear wiped from sorrow's eye, then, and not till 
then, will it have ended its mission of mercy here below. 
And it will be perpetual, for its great triune principles of 
faith, hope and charity are perpetual. Faith can not die, 
Hope is ever young, and Charity is immortal. 




LET THERE BE LIGHT. 



BY J. CAVEN, K. T., 33° 



GENESIS, CHAPTER I. 

1. In the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth. 

2. And the earth was without form and void; and darkness 
was upon the face of the deep, and the spirit of God moved upon 
the face of the waters. 

3. And God said, Let there be Light: and there was light. 

'•Let there be Light," Jehovah said. 

Creation's vaulted dome resplendent shone, 
Old Chaos all affrighted fled 

From off his dark and gloomy throne. 
The v\'aters rolled away, the earth was born. 
And smiling, glowed beneath creation's morn. 

"Let there be Light!" The Sun began 
Its mighty march across the bended sky; 

And then it seemed to wondering man 
A glance from God's all-seeing eye. 

As thus it flung its blazing beams abroad 

And whelmed in light the universe of God. 

"Let there be Light!" The Moon arose 
And hung on high its sheen of dazzling light, 
And myriad gleams of glory throws 

Across the darksome brow of night: 
And clouds that through the sky in blackness rolled 
Are robed in white and crowned with gold. 

(43) 



44 

"Let there be Light!" The stars that throng 
The sky in constellations bright and grand 

Burst forth in one undying song. 
That trembling swept o'er sea and land. 

Their mighty anthem still shall grandly pour 

Till time shall cease, shall cease and be no more. 

The morning stars together sang. 

Encircling wide the great all-central throne. 
And Earth and Heaven together rang 

With that triumphant music tone. 
As echoing through the gloomy shades of night 
That choral strain sublime, "Let there be Light!" 

"Let there be Light!" Huge comets came 
And forth upon their mighty mission went. 

With forms of fire and Avings of flame 
To heaven's remotest battlement. 

To realms of deepest, darkest, furthest night 

They bore that ei-ent coniniand. "Let there be Light!' 

"Let there be Liglit!" Fierce lightning flashed: 
With bolts of flame that awful gloom was rent. 

And peal on peal the thunder crashed 
Across tlae blackeueil tirniament. 

As though Omuipoteuce in anger spoke 

And thus primeval nigiit and silence broke. 

But silent now that thunder tone. 
And lo! in beauty o'er the sky unfurled 

Tliat grandly stretched from zone to zone. 
An arch of promise to the world; 

Glowing midst the clouds so pure and hoary. 

Is traced the rainbow's path of glory. 



45 

All glowing: from tlie sacred page, 
Whose beams divine the human soul illnme. 

That burns undimmed from age to age, 
Dispelling fast earth's moral gloom. 

Behold a gi'eater light tian all is given. 

Whose radiance lights the path that leads to heaven. 

Wlien comes the Horse and Rider pale. 
And Death's hoodwink shall close the Mason's sight, 

When past the dark and shadowy vale. 
All shall be brought to further light 

Within that Lodge that's builded on the sky. 

And lighted by our God's all-seeing eye. 

Omniscient truth shall light the soul 
When lost the Sun. and :\Ioon, and every Star: 

And whilst eternal ages roll. 
In mighty cycles sweeping far. 

No sorrow cloud shall dim that Lodge above — 

'Tis lighted by oiir Master's smile of love. 



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